


Before it's too Late

by whitehorsetiger



Series: Cuddles, Snuggles and Bonding moments [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, Light Angst, M/M, Minor Allura/Shiro (Voltron), Minor Pining Keith, Non-graphic Injury description
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-18
Updated: 2017-05-18
Packaged: 2018-11-02 04:14:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10936770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whitehorsetiger/pseuds/whitehorsetiger
Summary: Keith buried his face in his hands, groaning."Seriously though, it's late can we discuss this in the morning," Shiro grumbled."I'm having a crisis Shiro!""Have one in the morning.""That's not how this works!"Keith, having recently realised he has a massive crush on Lance, is having a crisis. Shiro is not helping. With the universe conspiring against him, can Keith figure out what he wants? Or will he just ignore it until it goes away?





	Before it's too Late

Keith paced like a trapped animal, stopped at one end of the circuit, then started again a minute later.  
"Pacing a hole in my floor isn't going to change anything," Shiro muttered from his place on the bed.  
"It helps me think," Keith grumbled irritably.  
"Well it gives me a headache cut it out," Shiro grumbled.  
Keith stopped and glowered at him, crossing his arm over his chest.  
"How did you know I liked him? Am I that obvious?" Keith's voice raised in pitch with panic, Shiro preferred the pacing.  
"Well if you're going to snuggle in a pillow fort it can't really be anything but obvious," Shrio grumbled, rolling his eyes.  
"That was an accident, and how did you know?" Keith sat down on the bed beside him.  
"Oh sure it was," Shiro rolled his eyes, "And Pidge told me, you do realise there were other people there right?"   
Keith buried his face in his hands, groaning.  
"Seriously though, it's late can we discuss this in the morning," Shiro grumbled.  
"I'm having a crisis Shiro!"  
"Have one in the morning."  
"That's not how this works!"  
"Can it be?" Shiro moaned, flopping his head back, "I was part of a workers rebellion yesterday can I not have a good night's sleep."  
Keith glowered at him, "Fine, I'll go. But if I don't sleep tonight it's your fault.  
"I can live with that," Shiro muttered as Keith walked to the door, "Night Keith."  
"Night Shiro."

Keith scrubbed at his eyes as he walked down to breakfast, he'd been tossing and turning all night and was still no closer to working out what was happening. Stepping through the door to the kitchen with a yawn, he shuffled over to the counter.  
"Wow you look like a mess," Shiro muttered, chuckling.  
"'s your fault," Keith grumbled.  
"Well I slept wonderfully," Shiro replied, grinning.  
"Good for you," Keith grumbled, "I hate you so much right now."  
"No you don't."  
"Wow, you look awful," Pidge said, walking in with the swish of the door.  
"He's having a crisis," Shiro whisper-shouted.  
"A crisis?" Pidge asked.  
"A gay crisis," Shiro replied.  
"Oh, he's finally realised he's got it bad for Lance," Pidge said with a grin.  
"Yep and apparently that is crisis worthy," Shiro said.  
"For Keith? Yeah I can see that."  
"I am right here you know," Keith snapped sitting up and glowering.  
"We know, continue to have your gay crisis, adults are talking," Pidge said.  
"I'm older than you," Keith said, a slight whine in his voice.  
"Morning guys," Hunk mumbled, shuffling into the room, cutting off the conversation.  
"Morning Hunk," Pidge said, shooting Keith a look before returning to her breakfast.  
Keith glared at her, before returning his eyes to the table.  
"Good morning," the last voice Keith wanted to hear floated from the doorway.  
"Morning Lance."  
"Good morning Lance."  
Hunk and Pidge replied, Keith just glared harder at the table.  
"Wow you look rough," Lance said, sliding down to sit beside him.  
Keith chewed his lip, trying to loosen his expression at the same time as fighting the blush threatening to overcome his face. It was extremely difficult.  
"'m fine, just tired," Keith mumbled softly.  
"I slept like a baby," Lance said, stretching his arms up to reveal a tantalising strip of dark skin.  
Keith looked away and cleared his throat, "Well lucky you."  
"You mean you were up every couple of hours crying to be fed?" Pidge frowned, "Babies don't sleep very well."  
Lance put his arms down, "Really?"  
"Yeah, I mean babies are the worst," Pidge grumbled.  
"How do you know?" Lance said, crossing his arms, "What experience do you have with babies?"  
"How do you not know? I thought you had a lot of experience with them!" Pidge said.  
"I don't even know if you're joking anymore," Lance sighed.  
"I am, was just seeing how long it would take you to get confused," Pidge grinned cheekily.  
Lance laughed, Keith felt his stomach swoop. Damn feelings.  
"Good morning Paladins," Allura said, sweeping into the room with a bright smile, "And how are we today?"  
"Keith didn't get enough beauty sleep, not that there would ever be enough to fix him but he may as well try," Lance said.  
Keith rolled his eyes, "If sleep actually made you beautiful, you would be an adonis."  
"I get my beauty sleep so am always stunning so shut up," Lance grinned.  
Internally Keith agreed, externally he just scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"I'm going to die," Keith moaned sprawled out on Shiro's floor.  
"No you're not," Shiro groaned from the bed.  
"I am, he's going to kill me, my heart will stop from too many skipped beats," Keith said, rolling over.  
"Wow, that is poetic and a little sad," Shiro muttered, "You know you could do something completely crazy and tell him how you feel."  
"Are you insane!" Keith bolted upright, "I can't just do that!"  
"Well why not?" Shiro asked, rolling over to look down on him.  
Keith smiled smugly, "The same reason you won't tell Allura how you feel."  
Shiro bolted upright, "What? I mean how? I mean no? Don't just! I don't!"  
Keith laughed, voice muffled by the floor.  
"I don't like Allura..." Shiro denied, "How did you know?"  
Turning his head to the side, Keith looked up at him through his bangs.  
"Well I wasn't one hundred percent but your indignant sputtering pretty much confirmed it," rolling onto his back Keith smiled, "So you can't tell me to tell him or you are a hypocrite."  
"Ok, those are two completely different circumstances," Shiro grumbles, crossing his arms.  
"Um, how?" Keith asked, sitting up.  
"She's a princess and I'm..."  
"A hero? Defender of the universe? I don't see the problem," Keith frowned.  
"I hate it when you're right," Shiro grumbling, falling backwards with his hands over his face.  
Keith hummed in agreement, "Anyway to answer your earlier question. What if he says no? What if he says yes and then we break up? What if this affects Voltron? What if...."  
"Woah, ok, slow down," Shiro said softly, "Breathe."  
Keith took several deep breaths, rubbing at his eyes.  
"I hate this, I hate this so much," Keith sighed, "Why? Why do I have to make this more complicated?"  
Shiro laid back with a soft sigh, "Ok think about this, you tell Lance how you feel."  
Keith made a noise like a wounded animal.  
"Let me finish, you tell Lance how you feel. He reciprocates, nothing bad happens, you're happy," Shiro said, "you become boyfriends, everything is great."  
One arm flung over his eyes, Keith groaned loudly. He could picture it all too easily, holding Lance in his arms, kissing Lance. His face flushed as other things came to mind, ok head out of the gutter.  
"That would be nice," Keith muttered, "But, I can't, I can't do it."  
Shiro hummed thoughtfully, "Alright then, but don't completely knock the idea. Think about it."  
Keith nodded slowly, "Ok, I will."

By the time the next day came to a close, Keith was pretty sure the world was out to get him. He didn't know why, but Lance seemed to want to spend all their time together. Breakfast was a given, they always ate together. However, for some reason Lance had wanted to practice his hand-to-hand combat with Keith. He couldn't be swayed from this goal and Shiro was not helping, he ended up stuck working with him. What was even worse, he could not but admire how gorges Lance was like this. Slender and lithe, Keith could never the less see muscle flex under the skin tight suit. His mind was gone, completely ran away with his imagination. Those arms around him, hands running down his face, his back, his chest. Up his thighs, steadily higher until...Wham. A startled noise left Keith as his back hit the floor, knocking the air out of his lungs.  
Lance was hovering over him, a look of surprise and concern on his face.  
"Dude, I just kicked your ass, are you ok?" he asked, holding up a hand to help him up.  
"Fine," Keith mumbled, shocked he had let himself get caught out like that.  
Lance cocked his head to one side, frowning in concern.  
"If you say so."  
Apparently even during free time he couldn't get away. Allura insisted on team bonding time, again. Why was this happening? The two of them were squished together on the sofa, Hunk on Lance's other side. Keith's eyes were focused on Lance's legs instead of the old Altean movie, he loved Lance's legs, they were so long.  
"Ok, and you're done," Lance said, grinning as he put the finishing touches to Allura's hair.  
"Lovely, thank you," Allura smiled.  
There was an old Altean movie playing in the background but no one was really paying attention to it, it provided something for Keith to look at though, he couldn't exactly stare at Lance the whole time.  
"Pidge want me to do yours?" Lance asked as Allura moved away.  
"I'm not bothered, but you can," Pidge shrugged, "Nothing too complicated though."  
"Sure," Lance shrugged as Pidge sat in front of him.   
Keith watched as Lance worked, skilfully separating Pidge's hair into two sections and braiding them. When he was done, Pidge looked up to see Keith watching. She shot him a shit-eating grin as she stood up and moved away. Keith glowered and looked at the floor, damn it. Suddenly he was grabbed and lifted off the sofa.  
"Hey!" he yelled, automatically lashing out, "Get off!"  
"Hold him steady!" Lance yelled and suddenly Keith felt hands in his hair.  
"What the hell!" Keith yelled, trying to struggle but he was pinned .  
"Hang on!" Lance said, there was some soft tugging on his hair, "Got it."  
The hands released him, "What the hell Shiro?"  
Shiro chuckled, a hand over his mouth, "Sorry."  
Pidge laughed, "No you're not."  
"Not really," Shiro smiled, "Lance suggested it and I was curious."  
Keith frowned, running his hand along the back of his head, Lance had given him a french braid.  
"Are you kidding me?" Keith growled, "Why?"  
Lance was laughing, "Couldn't resist."  
Keith tugged on the end of it, before dropping back onto the sofa.  
"Whatever."  
Lance preened, Keith rolled his eyes. 

It was almost pitch black, Keith edged closer to Lance until their arms were touching.  
"Lance and Keith, you need to take a right here," Pidge's voice crackled over the comms.  
Lance grabbed Keith's arm, tugging him down the corridor. Pidge was outside the caves system, guiding the paladin's through it. Apparently bright lights damaged the local flora and fauna, apparently the Galra have done enough damage without the paladins adding too it. Hunk was trying to find the locals, the free ones hiding deep in the tunnels. Shiro was trying to find the prison. Lance and Keith were trying to reach the control centre, so Pidge could shut down the bright lights keeping the locals at bay. They could see very little, as they were avoiding the main lit up tunnels, the only lights came from the soft glow of natural bioluminescence.  
"Ok you guys, you're going to hit a main corridor, readouts show three Galra," Pidge said, "From there it's a straight shot to the control room."  
"Alright Pidge, thanks," Lance said softly.  
The corridor became brighter, as it did Keith could see the plants dying. As they reached the end, the two of them shifted to the wall. Lance's eyes flicked to the corridor and he raised his gun, so he'd spotted the guards. With a smooth movement that took many hours of practice, Lance raised his gun and shot all three. The two of them shifted past the guards, moving forward at a rapid pace.  
"Guys, quick, Shiro's in position we're waiting on you," Pidge said.  
"Well we had some vision problems," Lance muttered back, glancing around the corner they'd come to.  
"Yeah, I really wish I'd seen you walk into that wall," Pidge chuckled.  
"It was hilarious," Keith said softly, taking out a couple of sentries and using his hand to open the door.  
Lance watched the door, while Keith headed to the control pannel. That's where everything went wrong. The second his gauntlet connected to the panel, all the alarms went off.  
"Damn it," Lance and Pidge hissed.  
"Ok, you've got to give me a few doboshs, just hold out," Pidge said.  
"Alright, we'll give you as much time as possible," Lance said, glancing over at Keith.  
Keith nodded, shifting to join Lance at the door.  
"We've got this," he murmured, more to Lance than Pidge.  
It was hell, a sudden seemingly endless swarm of robots. Wave after wave. Taking them down in wasn't too difficult, the doorway gave them a bottleneck which only two at a time could go through. Lance shot them before they got past the doorway. Suddenly all the corridor lights went off, leaving the centre the only pool of light.  
"I've got it guys, you need to get out of there," Pidge said.  
"Right," Lance grumbled, "How."  
"I'll light up the way," Pidge replied, the corridor lights came back on, "follow the lights, they'll lead you back to Green."  
"We're on it," Keith said, shooting forwards.  
He trusted Lance not to shoot him as he cut down the sentries in his way, cutting a path for them. He could hear Lance on his heels, it was a reassuring sound. They hit a crossroads, followed the right path which was lit up. The two of them continued running down the corridor, until they came upon a lot of sentries blocking their path. Keith charged forward, he could cut them down easily. Several shots skimmed past him, taking out a few of the sentries. It was all going well, until there was a scream. Keith turned, watching as Lance wrestled with a large Galra guard. Blood was dripping down his back from where it had snuck up behind him, luckily his amour had protected him from the worst of the damage. The Galra had grabbed Lance's arm, claws digging into the flesh. Kicking him in the gut, forcing Lance to the ground hard. The Galra twisted his arm. A sickening snap, a scream, Keith saw red. By the time he came back to himself, everything in the corridor had been taken down. Keith was breathing heavily, but he rushed over to Lance.  
"Lance," he said softly, "Hey, can you walk?"  
Lance whimpered softly, curling in more on himself.  
"Come on, we need to get out of here," Keith tried to keep the panic out of his voice, Lance had to be alright.  
Lance looked up, eyes glazed with pain and filled with tears. Avoiding his injured arm, Keith rested his hand on Lance's shoulder. Lance took a shuddering breath and nodded.  
"I can walk," he murmured, staggering to his feet, blood still dripping down his back.  
Keith hovered awkwardly, keeping a firm eye on Lance.  
"Guys! Guys! What happened?" Pidge yelled suddenly.  
"Lance is injured," Keith said, "We need to get him out."  
"I'm not that bad," Lance interrupted, " I can wait until we've finished."  
Keith glowered at him, "You're bleeding."  
"'s not that bad, I can manage," Lance said, "I mean I can't shoot but I can hang out with Pidge."  
Keith glared, "Whatever, but we need to get out of here first."  
Of course, that's when they hit more sentries. Lance was in no condition to fight, clutching his broken arm tightly to his body. Keith took them out as quickly as he could, but Lance was looking very pale.  
"Lance?" Keith called softly.  
"I just feel a bit dizzy," Lance muttered.  
"Ok, ok," Keith took a deep breath to calm himself down, "If you're going to faint tell me."  
Lance nodded hesitantly, following Keith along the tunnels.  
"You guys are almost back," Pidge said.  
"Good," Keith muttered, "Come on Lance."  
The two of them broke out into the large cave where the green lion was waiting, Lance was looking a little green. The two of them made their way into the green lion, Keith grabbing Lance as he almost collapsed. Pidge took one look at the two of them and swore loudly, rushing over as Keith lowered Lance to the floor.  
"Guys," Pidge said into her comms, "We need to get Lance back to the castle, he is not doing very well."  
"Ok, if you cut the lights, we can manage until you get back," Shiro said, "Keith, can you stay behind and help us?"  
Keith swallowed, looking down at Lance who met his eyes weakly.  
"Stay, help them," he murmured, "I'll be fine."  
Keith nodded, "Ok, I'll stay."  
"Right, gauntlet," Pidge said, holding out her hand.  
Keith held his arm out, Pidge grabbed it and hauled him over to her computers.  
"Ok, now I've got access to the system I can give you a map, follow the arrow that'll lead you to Shiro," she said, "Now go."  
Keith took one last look at Lance, before sprinting out of Green. Down the corridor the map indicated, he felt the breeze from Green taking off.

The inhabitants of the planet called themselves the Bilo. They were small, their skin almost transparent. Clothes made from a mossy substance, bodies painted with different colours of bioluminescent plant. Huge eyes peered up at him through the darkness.  
"A few are a little damaged from the light, but nothing too serious," Shiro said, "We need to keep the Galra off them until we can get them to the village."  
Keith nodded and they set off again, the largest of the Bilo leading the way. There were a few sentries, but the darkness seemed to be keeping most of them away. The Bilo moved through the caves with ease, dodging any stray rocks easily. Their soft chirrups carried easily through the tunnels, one very close to Keith nudged him gently and pointed. Almost immediately after a sentry would appear, some form of echolocation then.   
"Guys, Lance is in the healing pod, will be out by tomorrow afternoon," Pidge said, "I'm on my way back."  
Keith let out a long breath of relief, feeling some of the tension leaving his shoulders.  
"Let's get this done."

Keith sat in front of the healing pad Lance was in, watching his peaceful face. Although he knew Lance would not be out until tomorrow, he couldn't help but sit here for a bit.  
"I thought I'd find you here," Shiro said from just behind him.  
"I'm getting predictable?" Keith said, looking over at him.  
Moving to sit beside Keith, Shiro sighed.  
"When it comes to Lance? A little," he smiled.  
Keith hummed lightly, "I'm going to tell him how I feel."  
"What?" Shiro asked, surprised, "You are?"  
"Yeah," Keith said softly, "I am, I don't care what he thinks, I don't care the outcome, I just know if something happens I will regret not saying anything."  
"Wow, well you are so much braver then me. All I can really say is, good luck," Shiro said softly, "Come on, it's dinner time, Lance won't be out until tomorrow."  
"Yeah," Keith smiled, "Ok."

The healing pod beeped, sliding open and dumping Lance unceremoniously out. Hunk was there to catch him in a bone-crushing hug.  
"Lance! We were so worried!" he yelled happily.  
"Good to see you too buddy," Lance laughed.  
"You had us worried," Shiro said, patting him on the back.  
"Did everything go alright?" Lance asked, worry overtaking his face.  
"Oh yeah, we freed the planet, unfortunately you missed the parade," Pidge said.  
"What!?" Lance yelled, "I missed a parade?"  
"Oh yeah, it was a huge one too, music, food, dancing, pretty aliens," Pidge listed off on her fingers.  
"What?" Lance actually whimpered a little, "I missed it?"  
"You didn't miss anything," Matt said from the other side of the room, "Katie leave him alone, he just got out of a healing pod."  
"Thank you," Lance said, "You're so mean."  
"Ok, after passing out on the way back to the castle and scaring me half to death, you deserved that," Pidge grumbled.  
"He did what?" Keith snapped, shock jolting through his system.  
Pidge winced and turned to him, "I didn't want to worry you guys so I didn't say anything, he was fine in the end! But apparently being thrown to the floor, onto a rock, kind of gave him a mild concussion."  
Keith turned on Lance, angry fire in his eyes.  
"Why didn't you tell me you were feeling bad?" he questioned.  
Lance sighed, holding up his hands, "Look, we were in the middle of a fight, I didn't want to worry you. Feel free to yell at me later for being stupid, but for now I'm starving."  
Everyone looked between the two of them, waiting for the inevitable argument. But it never came.  
"Fine, go eat," Keith mumbled, breaking eye contact, "I'm going to my room."  
He walked out of the door, taking rapid steps down the corridor. Through his bedroom door, Keith threw himself on the bed and screamed into a pillow. He would confess tomorrow, after calming down. The door opening was not unexpected, who walked through though was.  
"Lance?" Keith asked, sitting up, "What are you doing here?"  
Lance scratched the back of his neck, "Shiro said you wanted to talk to me? Also I'm sorry I guess?"  
Keith sighed, he just couldn't not interfere.  
"Don't worry about it, I was just worried," Keith replied, shrugging.  
"Aww, Keith, I didn't know you cared so much," Lance said, smiling cheekily.  
Taking a deep breath Keith stood up, well he wasn't one to back down from a challenge.  
"Yes I care, I care a lot," he said and because it had been one of those days and Keith wasn't even thinking, he hugged Lance tightly to him.  
Lance was stiff in his arms, clearly not expecting it. That coupled with the fact Keith was surprised at his own actions made the hug very awkward. Keith was about to pull away when Lance wrapped his arms around him and the hug immediately became ten times better. Keith buried his face in the crook of Lance's neck, ok this was really nice.  
"I like you Lance," he murmured, Lance stiffened so Keith pulled back to explain, "Like as in more than a friend."  
What seemed to be every emotion possible passed over Lance's face all at once, until it settled on a bright smile.  
"Really?" Lance asked, holding Keith's shoulders at arm's length.  
Resting his hands lightly on Lance's arms, Keith smiled lightly and nodded. Lance's smile got, somehow, even brighter and Keith was pulled into an incredibly tight hug.  
Keith chuckled, "Does this mean you like me back?"  
Lance nodded and Keith felt all the tension from goodness knows how long ago melt away, Lance liked him back...actually liked him back.  
"Can I kiss you?" Lance asked softly.  
Keith pulled back slightly, looking straight into his bright blue eyes and nodded. Soft, Lance's lips were incredibly soft. The kiss was not quite perfect, the angle was a little off and it ended far too soon for Keith's liking. Lance hummed lightly as he pulled away, Keith chased his lips and kissed him again. Their heads shifted and the angle was oh so much better.  
"Yes," Keith thought, "This is good."

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, this one really got away from me I did not think it would get this long. Anyway, more fluff! Yay! I would've got this up sooner but apparently working is too much for our internet, so...


End file.
